


Fire

by fallen_timbers_pencil



Category: The Greatest Showman - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Love, Taking care of Phillip, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, its actually so sweet, sleepy, treating burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-08 03:51:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14096613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallen_timbers_pencil/pseuds/fallen_timbers_pencil
Summary: Anne takes Phillip home and sees to his burns. Nap time and loving words ensue.Just some more fluff that I needed to write down.





	Fire

Anne waited outside the hospital, the air chilly with the coming winter. She pulled her thin shawl closer around her shoulders, wishing she had something a little more winter-inclined to wear. But she ignored the frostiness of the air, as it was unable to compete with the warmth in her chest. Phillip was being released today from the hospital. 

She hadn’t went in. While some of the nurses were kinder than others, she hadn’t been permitted to enter this time. The doctor was a bigot and had asked for her to be removed after long visitations, ones that often lasted through the night. The doctor would wake her from her vigil at Phillip’s bed, insisting she was in the way and needed to move. She wouldn’t want to damage him further would she? She typically tried to ignore him, especially after Phillip became conscious. She spent almost all of her days with him, helping him sip water and sit up and holding his hand. Sometimes she would lie in bed with him, so tired that he would suggest she just stay and sleep there. 

It was the first night that she had fallen asleep in Phillip’s bed that the doctor harshly awoke her and suggested she leave. “It wasn’t proper” and “the hospital didn’t support vagrants or slaves” Phillip had argued of course, but she had gripped his uninjured arm and insisted it was alright. She’d been forced to have shorter visits with him, which had been torture for her, especially after only recently realizing how deep her feelings ran for him. 

Now, though, she could finally take him home and see him whenever she wanted. 

The doors of the hospital opened and out stepped Phillip, finely dressed in the clothes that Anne had asked P. T. to deliver to him. It wasn’t anything extravagant. Just a pair of black dress pants, a white shirt and a charcoal suit vest. She watched as his eyes swung about the street side, freezing on her. He slowly made his way to her and she was a little worried about the pain that crossed his face at the movement. His head was a little better, but still was an angry red. His left eye was marred with black and blue markings. 

He embraced her when he reached her, wrapping his strong arms about her waist. She smiled widely as she tucked her face into the corner of his neck, breathing in the smell of him. When she pulled back, one arm stayed wrapped around her waist and he dipped close to kiss her soundly, right there in front of the hospital. “It’s only been two days,” she laughed. 

Phillip smiled at her, pecking her lips one more time, encouraging another wrinkle-nosed laugh from her. “I missed you.” 

Anne couldn’t help the heat that rushed to her cheeks. “Well,” she admitted. “I missed you too.” 

She tucked closer to his chest as a cold wind blew through. He noticed her lack of a coat and started to lead her down the sidewalk. “Why don’t we head someplace warm? I’ve grown bored of seeing the same hospital walls.” 

They cast a look up at the hospital and Anne tried not to feel like a sideshow act as the nurses and doctors watched them leave down the concrete. Instead she raised her chin; she deserved this love. No one was going to steal her joy. 

 

They arrived at Phillip’s apartment. He’d told her at the hospital that he planned on leaving it. He told her of his money that he’d set aside to help bring back the circus and how he planned to invest it in Barnum. With the money, he could hopefully afford housing near wherever they planned to rebuild so he could spend more time participating. 

But for now, his apartment in the highbrow area of town would have to do. Anne couldn’t help lowering her chin as they walked further and further into a part of the city that Anne could never imagine ever stepping foot in. As they continued though, Anne noticed a deep wheezing from Phillip. It threatened to turn into a cough and she hoped they were close. 

Finally he stopped at one of the nicer buildings, leading her quietly inside and up the flights of stairs to the top level. They luckily did not meet any of Phillip’s neighbors and he let her inside. 

Anne was astounded by the difference in poor tenements and wealthy apartments. There were two bedrooms that stemmed off the main living floor. A stove was in the corner and there was a dining table and a grandfather clock and furnishing. It was warm and lavish and Anne wondered briefly how the wealthy could take this for granted everyday. 

Phillip rushed inside and quickly loosened the buttons at his neck, a thick cough erupting from him. He disappeared from the room, entering a smaller room, in which there was a sink and a large basin, probably a washing tub. 

He coughed and wheezed and Anne hovered at the door, unsure of what to do. Water pumped from the sink and he eagerly supped some down, before spitting out a mass of black oily phlegm. 

“Are you sure you were released today?” Anne said jokingly with a worried lilt to her accented voice. 

Phillip waved it off, straightening as his coughing fit faded. “They told me it would be a while before all that was out. I haven’t walked that far since the fire. I’m exhausted.” He admitted, with a regrettable tilt of his head. 

Anne gathered her shawl again, which had started to fall from her shoulders. “I’ll just leave you to rest then.” She turned to leave and his hand captured her arm. 

“Maybe just stay a little longer?” Phillip murmured.

Anne twisted back to face him so that his grip fell away. He was so close and he leaned forward a bit so that his forehead rested on hers. “It’s not proper for an unmarried woman to stay in a bachelor’s apartment.”

Phillip smiled softly. “What do you care what’s proper?” 

As he leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on her lips, her hands moved across his sides—emitting a low groan of pain from Phillip. He flinched away from her and she felt shame course through her. “Your burns, Phillip, I’m so sorry.” 

He gripped his side, shaking his head. “No, it’s alright.” He lifted his shirt a bit to examine the wounds, a sight Anne had seen before. She’s once hovered over the doctor’s shoulder when he’d been dressing the burns. They did look much better, less blackened and more just an angry red. But they still looked extremely painful and Anne felt another rush of guilt. 

But instead of standing there and feeling sorry for herself, she moved past him and headed for the bathroom sink. She found a bowl and filled it with cold water. A washing rag sat near the tub and she grabbed that as well. 

When she returned, Phillip had sat down on his sofa, a fierce cough assaulting him as he held onto his side. She nudged his knee as she kneeled in front of him. “Want to talk about what’s proper?” She teased. “I need you to take that shirt off.” 

Phillip laughed lightly and complied. Anne sucked in a nervous breath. She wasn’t a nurse. She didn’t know much about wounds. When she was young, her mother was the one who wrapped her hurts and tempered her fevers. Living on a plantation didn’t provide the luxury of doctors. Looking like she did alone didn’t provide that. 

But she knew that burns were painful, hot and could get itchy. He only had two severe burns on his abdomen. One was on his left side, near his hip. The other was across the right side of his upper chest. His left arm was marred a bit by lighter burns and his right hand had broken skin on his knuckles. She could tell his back had painful, less severe burns. As she took in the sight, Phillip finally finished coughing. “I was supposed to wrap these up when I get home, the doctor said some air would be good.” 

Anne tutted. “Well I guess it’s time you wrapped them. Have you got any bandages?” 

He patted the vest he’d been wearing earlier. The pockets held the bandages the doctor had sent home as well as some gunky ointment. Anne took the cloth and dampened it with cold water. She carefully dabbed the burn on his hip and Phillip jumped. 

He relaxed at her continued, ginger movements against the burn, cooling it with the rag. Once she was sure that it was cooled a bit, she took some of the ointment and ever so softly, spread it over the burned skin. The wound was still hot under her touch and his muscles contracted a little bit at her touch, as if he were tending up. 

She couldn’t help the warmth that sprung to her cheeks as she ministered to him and each of his burns. He became less tense and relaxed against her touch. She began to patch up each wound with te gauze he’d given her and soon he was finished. 

She set aside the bowl of water and the cloth and sat back on her heels. “There. All better.” 

Phillip stared at her, his stormy blue eyes filled with gratitude and love. Then he shifted his gaze down to his burns, a flash of something she couldn’t identify crossing his features. “They’ll be quite the scars.” 

Anne tilted her head, eyes flicking across his chest before fixing back on him. Guilt filled her again; if he’d waited a little longer, if she had followed the rest of the acts out sooner, perhaps he wouldn’t be in such pain right now. It was because of her that his skin was forever marked by fire.

A warm, calloused hand enveloped hers. “Hey,” Phillip murmured. “I’d run into a million more fires if I believed you were inside.” His words were filled with truth that soothed Anne’s anxiety. 

Anne blinked at him, tears sprouting and she quickly wiped them away, embarrassed. How could she have been so lucky as to meet this man? She’d always believed that love was for those who could afford it, those who had the right color skin. For those who had everything and yet nothing to lose. 

She let out a hoarse laugh, his eyes boring into her with an untamed fire. “Let’s not make that a habit, huh? I’d like to keep you around a while.” 

Phillip reached out with a hand and wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye. His thumb lingered on her cheek. “Thank you. For this.” He gestured vaguely down to his bare chest with a flick of his chin. “I may need help in the future though. For the ones on my back.” 

Anne laid her hand over his, the one on her cheek. “That won’t be a problem. I’ll stay here to look after you.” 

Phillip tilted his head. “You don’t have to do that for me. The others will think–“ 

Anne hushed him, removing his hand from her cheek and nudging his shirt towards him. She tried to imagine what her brother would say, her sitting here with a bare-chested man that she was in love with. “I don’t care what the others think. I know why I’m here and that’s all that matters.” 

She leaned back and gathered her materials to place them on the table. Phillip pulled his shirt on gingerly to avoid jostling his burns again. She turned back to him as he lied back against the sofa . 

His eyes watched her, one arm slung over the side of the cushions. “Anne,” He murmured. 

She padded closer. “Hmm?” She stood next to the sofa, using one hand to sift through his hair. 

“Come here?” His voice was muffled against the pillow he rested on. Instead of arguing or continuing the “proper” conversation, she lied down carefully beside him. She let out an easy breath when he wrapped his left arm about her hips and pulled her close. She twisted to face him, letting herself splay her hands across his chest. He smiled tenderly at her. “Warmer now?” 

Anne smiled and tucked her head under his chin, content to be in his arms. “Much.” Though it wasn’t late, more around noon than anything else, she felt like sleeping.  
She was warm and happy and safe. Her eyes drooped and she could feel her beau watching her. 

“I think I’m liking what life is going to be.” He said to her, hand stroking burning circles on her hip. He looked sleepy himself, as if the same wave of exhaustion hit him as well. 

“Mmm.” She hummed against his shirt, listening to his heartbeat in his chest. It was soothing, hearing the constant thumping of his heart. “I suppose I could live with it.” 

Phillip kissed her gently, tilting his chin down to capture her lips. It was short and sweet and sent Anne’s heart fluttering. His arms tightened about her as she felt herself falling asleep. 

In that moment, there was nowhere else she wanted to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I love writing fluff. Plus we all need a shirtless Efron image in our minds sometimes right? 
> 
> I would love any suggestions that I could pull ideas from or anything you guys would like to see specifically? I’m better at fluff but angst and fluff works also. Anything with a happy ending :)


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